Please! Turn on the lights to honor MLK.

Each day, as the sun goes down, lights come on in the homes of people around the world. In the glow of the light, individuals can prepare dinner, play games, read, study, or devote time to their favored project. Yet, in other living spaces in the world, there is less light for doing.

Often, in the evening, scenes play out without lamplight, or in dim lighting. These scenes include: persons sleeping on the streets; a family going to bed hungry so they can pay the rent for their shelter; the elderly who are taking only a portion of their prescribed medication to afford to eat a meal; and, in many living spaces, men, women and children have never seen a dentist or doctor. A lack of heat or cooling appliances leave many vulnerable to potentially life robbing cold or hot temperatures.

Looking into the world’s darker areas at dusk, we can find dimly lit homes where the children watch TV but do not look forward to going to higher education because of their parent’s or parents’ limited finances and expectations. Some of these children in the United States will not complete high school.

In 1948, by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the members of the United Nations clearly stated that: “Everyone … is entitled to realization … of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his [or her] dignity.” Yet, today, billions of people in the world live with scarcity that robs them of their dignity. They are the extreme poor or the relatively poor with an income level that falls into their country’s measure of poverty.

The scarcity in the lives of the people around the world had energized Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision and efforts before his death. Consequently, memories of him must include more than his effective leadership in non-violently winning significant civil rights for all races in the United States; but, also his world view of poverty and the need to overcome it in an equally non-violent fashion.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

We know King recognized the enormity of worldwide poverty as in his “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” speech, he underscores its challenges.

His depiction of poverty in the speech is hard to forget:

‘‘We are challenged to rid our nation and the world of poverty. Like a monstrous octopus, poverty spreads its nagging, prehensile tentacles into hamlets and villages all over our world.’’1

In another part of the speech, equally hard to forget words describe mankind’s unity:

“…all mankind is tied together….For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be …. “1

Unquestionably, his words were inspired by his travels to India and its people in 1959, and his personal contact with the peoples of the United States in southern churches and the civil rights movement.

Undeniably, King was aware of the realities of poverty as he looked for possible solutions to end poverty. He knew that holding a job might not take someone out of poverty. In one of his speeches he said: “Most of the poverty-stricken people of America are persons who are working every day, and they end up getting part-time wages for full-time work.”2

He worked with other civil rights leaders so that the powers in Washington, D.C. and the American public would “acknowledge and resolve the problem of poverty for people of all races, religions and backgrounds in the United States.”2In 1967 and 1968, King was transforming his words and ideas into action with other civil rights leaders as he planned for The Poor People’s Campaign and a march on Washington, D.C.

After King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, other leaders continued to orchestrate the march on June 12, 1968 which brought 50,000 men and women to Washington, D.C., far more than King had anticipated.

The march began on May 12, 1968. This photo shows the end of the march on June 19th, at the base of the Washington Memorial. Photo courtesy of CNN.

At the time of the march, civil rights leader Rev. Abernathy said, “We come with an appeal to open the doors of America to the almost 50 million Americans who have not been given a fair share of America’s wealth and opportunity, and we will stay until we get it.”3

For six weeks after the march began, many of the impoverished marchers camped out in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. They sheltered in tents and makeshift shacks as they endured wind and rain. This won them the right for the impoverished to serve in leadership roles in the programs that would help them.

Since 1968, has there been a change in the poverty rates in the United States, or the world? Statistics vary, and some are controversial, and the fact that in the U.S.A. many people slide in and out of poverty adds variability to the numbers. Published statistics from established sources follow.

NPR reports that in the U.S.A. in 1968: “25 million people —…nearly 13 percent of the population — were living below the poverty level, according to the Census Bureau.”3

NPR reports that in the U.S.A. in 2006: ”36 million people or more than 12 percent of the population, were living below the poverty level.”3

January 2012, CNN reported: “Using the official federal definition, 15.1% of the population [in the U.S.A.] is living in poverty – 46.2 million people. Using a supplemental measure that takes into account the geographical differences in cost of living, the number rises to 16%.”2

“Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.”6

The World Bank reports on world statistics:

“In 1981, 1.94 billion people — 52% of the world’s population — lived on less than $1.25 a day (extreme poverty).” 4

In 1990, 1.91 billion, or 43% of the world’s population lived on $1.25 or less (extreme poverty).” 4

“In 2010, 1.22 billion people, or 21%, lived on $1.25 a day or less (extreme poverty).”4

Clearly, poverty remains a troubling and urgent issue although an estimate says the most extreme world poverty has been halved. Perhaps, in the United States, the 1968 effort helped contain the number of the impoverished from increasing more significantly.

We must be aware that when the numbers of those in extreme poverty exceed more than a billion people, the numbers of those living with scarcity may be many times that number. For instance, the World Bank notes that in 2010, 2.4 billion people lived on $2 or less a day.4

The realities of poverty in 1968 continue today. For instance, a 2013 film documentary on food insecurity in the United States, A Place at the Table, shares the story of a father, who today, in the U.S.A. works full time but must accept help so that his children have enough to eat. Isn’t this an echo of Martin Luther King Jr.’s understanding more than 45 years earlier? A paying job does not always end a person’s struggle with poverty.

The challenges of poverty are multi-faceted. How do you deal with the deprivations of nutrition, sanitation, housing, medical care, education, and more? Unquestionably, these call on the collaboration of the world’s people and their good hearts, wisdom, deeds small and grand, and expertise. As Martin Luther King Jr. recognized, we must join with one another in brotherhood to accomplish the task.

Many organizations are working to end poverty on many levels. As poverty challenges human rights, Amnesty International deals with various issues of world poverty in its Demand Dignity campaign, emphasizing that:

“Everyone, everywhere has the right to live with dignity. No one should be denied their rights to adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, and to education and health care.”5

We know that Martin Luther King Jr. understood that poverty for anyone anywhere limits the future of each individual in the world and the human race itself. As he gave his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech in the last full day of his life, he shared his expectation that the future will be brighter. I believe that he did see a vision of the world’s future without poverty.

Could the question be – when will everyone be able to turn on lamplight in the evening? When everyone can, Martin Luther King will be justly honored.